Providing for Further Consideration of H.R. Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018

Floor Speech

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Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, the hypocrisy of this farm bill from President Donald Trump and the Republicans in this Congress means more subsidies for the rich and greater hunger for the poor.

The food stamp program is one of the most important and successful antihunger programs in our Nation. Last year, it prevented 42.2 million people from going hungry, including 4.8 million seniors and 1.5 million low-income military veterans. And yet my colleagues in the majority are seeking to undermine food stamps as they shield farm subsidies for the rich.

When you take a look at the number of people who are the farm subsidy beneficiaries and the millions of people who are the SNAP beneficiaries, what you will see is that the SNAP beneficiaries get $1,115 per year, and the farm subsidy beneficiaries get almost $10,000 a year. Farms receive more than six times the benefit of a person receiving food stamps even though the vast majority of the farm bill beneficiaries are food stamp recipients.

This farm bill would kick 2 million people off of food stamps, cutting benefits by more than $23 billion. Meanwhile, Republicans refuse to include limits on subsidies provided for crop insurance, one of the few Federal programs without any eligibility caps or payment limits. That is the untold story: who benefits.

In the Republican tax scam for the rich, 83 percent of the benefits went to the top 1 percent. The Republican farm bill is rigged, as well, for the rich.

Farm subsidies, which the CBO says will cost $12.6 billion more than planned, are so skewed toward the rich that the top 10 percent of farms, about 76,000 farms, received over 60 percent of all farm subsidies.

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Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, SNAP recipients have income limits, asset limits. They get $1.40 per meal. Millionaires and billionaires who pocket farm subsidies do not.

SNAP recipients have work requirements. Millionaires and billionaires who pocket farm subsidies do not, even though many of them do not work the land.

Nearly 18,000 people in the 50 biggest cities received farm subsidies. They do not work the land. They do not till the soil. Where are their work requirements?

In fact, 23 Republican Members of this Congress who vocally oppose SNAP have financial ties to farms that receive subsidies. They are poised to support this bill. They get theirs while the kids go hungry.

The country needs to know this. In the land of food abundance, in the United States, no one should go hungry. The Republican farm bill is a massive giveaway to the rich, which will deny children in our country food. It is unspeakable. We need to eradicate hunger. We do not need to eradicate the antihunger programs.

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